New (to me) wheels.

[Remy]

Really wanted to find some decent 15" wheels for the Mirage but couldn't pass up the deal I got on these. "Vintage" Sniper wheels by American Racing. These are one piece aluminum wheels that just came off a used Honda. Brand new set of 185/60/14 Aspen Touring tires on them. (Clueless on the brand) I tossed one on a bathroom scale and it said 27lbs which I am well pleased with. Just worried if they will balance out ok. I'll probably spend the next few days trying to clean off the crappy spray paint before I have them mounted. If they do it will be well worth the $150 I spent on them. And here I promised I wouldn't spend money on the Mitsubishi until the Miata was done.

[Angrybeaver]

I'm not usually a fan of American Racing wheels, but those don't look too bad in black. I think the Aspens are a generic tire sold under a hundred different brand names. Not bad for $150!

[Top_Fuel]

...I tossed one on a bathroom scale and it said 27lbs

That's pretty good! Those tires are probably 15 lbs...so those wheels weigh approximately 12 lbs. A 165-65-14 Enasave on a 14x4.5" OEM aluminum wheel is 26 lbs.

As best I can determine, those are 14x6 wheels with a 35mm offset and a 4 7/8" backspace. I think you're going to like the way they fit on the car. They are going to move the face of the wheel out a full inch compared to the stock wheels (check out willtheyfit.com).

I'm guessing those aren't low rolling resistance tires, but for $150...does it even matter?!?

[Remy]

Spent a few hours attacking the wheels with acetone to clean the paint off. Way to much work for a look I am not enthusiastic about. Guess I am going to put plastidip back over them and get them mounted up. I'm not worried about if the tires are the LRR or not. Right now I am saving on the fact that the Mirage gets twice the gas mileage (37mpg average over the last 3 weeks) as the Miata and takes regular instead of premium. If I take a hit of 4-5 mpg I won't even notice it, all I really care about is that the car is an automatic in traffic and has great AC. (And hopefully heat too)

[Remy]

I stopped by a discount tires today to see about getting these wheels mounted. They quoted me almost $500 to mount a set of wheels I already own. They wouldn't give me a print out so I could post it but here is what I was told. "By law we can't install tires without TPMS since the car came with it" Then wanted either $75 per wheel sensor plus new valve stems and other mounting and balancing fees. Or for slightly less they would remove the sensors from the original wheels to insert them into these. Which came out to almost as much since I would be paying for the original tires to be pulled from the wheels and then put back on plus hardware as well as the new tires being pulled off the wheels, modified and reinstalled.

Anytime I hear a repair shop say they HAVE to do something "by law" I leave immediately. And after a pretty quick search on the US laws pertaining to the TPMS I found that it prohibits NEW cars being sold without it by a dealership. It prohibits the warning light from being modified or removed. And in a very few states, THEY require the system to be running correctly for the car to pass a state inspection. BUT it does not stop you from putting aftermarket wheels on the car in a different size nor does it require that those wheels also have the TPMS system in them.

Here is a link to a site that puts it in plain english. I wish I had seen this before digging through the NHTSA site for my answers.
http://www.tirereview.com/the-final-...ing-conundrum/

[Top_Fuel]

I'm a little confused on what you're asking them to do.

You have a used set of used Sniper wheels with Aspen tires already mounted. Aren't you just going to bolt these on the car as-is? Or do you want them to remove the Aspen tires from these wheels and mount your existing tires on these wheels?

[Remy]

I'm a little confused on what you're asking them to do.

You have a used set of used Sniper wheels with Aspen tires already mounted. Aren't you just going to bolt these on the car as-is? Or do you want them to remove the Aspen tires from these wheels and mount your existing tires on these wheels?

Discount Tires wants to do one of two things.
A) take the Aspen tires off the wheels, install new TPMS sensors and valve stems, remount the tire then mount the wheel to the car. Cost of $500ish
B) Take the tires off the stock wheels, remove the original sensors, transfer them to the aftermarket wheels leaving the original tires off the stock wheels because I can't use them with no sensors and then mount the new wheels to the car. Which would only save me about $150 off the $500

All I want is the new wheels balanced and put on the car with whatever hub rings or whatever they need. No TPMS sensors added and nothing done to the stock wheels so I can use one of them as a spare.

[Top_Fuel]

All I want is the new wheels balanced and put on the car with whatever hub rings or whatever they need.
No TPMS sensors added and nothing done to the stock wheels so I can use one of them as a spare.

If you don't care about losing your TPMS functionality with your new wheels, then just do the following:

1) Carry your new wheels/tires to a shop and have them balanced ($40).
2) Buy the hub rings you need for the wheels ($10-$60).
3) Get out a jack and bolt on your new wheels (free).

There you go...you're all set for a lot less than $500.

Seriously though...if you don't care about your TPMS system, you don't need a shop to do anything for you (other than balance the wheels). You can handle the rest yourself.


Hubcentric Rings

The center bore diameter of your American Racing wheels is 2.780" inches (70.612 mm). That's according to the specs on Summit Racing HERE. You may want to verify this just to be sure.

So you will need hub rings with an INNER diameter of 56 or 56.1 mm (either will fit over the Mirage hubs), and an OUTER diameter of 70.6 mm (to fit snugly into the back of your wheels). Technically speaking, you don't absolutely need hub rings, but I would use them because they can eliminate potential vibrations from a wheel that isn't perfectly centered on the hub when you bolt it on. They also make it easier to install the wheel on your car.

Here's one problem you may have... 70.6mm looks like an unusual size for a wheel center bore. I cant seem to find a 56.1/70.6 hub ring anywhere. You may not be able to find "off-the-shelf" hub rings that will work. The worst case scenario is that you have to have a set custom made...which can cost about $60.


TPMS Note...

Keep in mind that without TPMS sensors in the wheels, the TPMS light will flash on and off constantly...which might drive you crazy. Or you may never notice it.

[Remy]

Hubcentric Rings

The center bore diameter of your American Racing wheels is 2.780" inches (70.612 mm). That's according to the specs on Summit Racing HERE. You may want to verify this just to be sure.

So you will need hub rings with an INNER diameter of 56 or 56.1 mm (either will fit over the Mirage hubs), and an OUTER diameter of 70.6 mm (to fit snugly into the back of your wheels). Technically speaking, you don't absolutely need hub rings, but I would use them because they can eliminate potential vibrations from a wheel that isn't perfectly centered on the hub when you bolt it on. They also make it easier to install the wheel on your car.

Here's one problem you may have... 70.6mm looks like an unusual size for a wheel center bore. I cant seem to find a 56.1/70.6 hub ring anywhere. You may not be able to find "off-the-shelf" hub rings that will work. The worst case scenario is that you have to have a set custom made...which can cost about $60.

Thanks for the help with this. I believe this would be the proper set that I am looking for then.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hub-Centric-...lXwc4o&vxp=mtr

I'm gonna make a few calls but I think you are right and that I won't be able to find these locally. I'll just have to wait another week to install the wheels once I have these.

[Top_Fuel]

Go slightly larger on the outer diameter...like these: 70.4 to 56.1 hubcentric rings

You want that outer diameter size as close to 70.6mm as you can get.